Articles
What's coming, how to be ready for it, and what it actually means for your site.
The EU has published its residue testing list for 2027, and three things on it are yours
The EU and Great Britain have both published exactly which foods will be tested for which pesticide residues, years ahead. Three of the substances on the list are not pesticides at all, and your site may be the source of them.
StandardsThe IFS Food doctrine: the rules you are audited against but have probably not read
IFS republished the Food 8 doctrine in April 2026 and it has applied since 23 June. It is normative, so an auditor can score against it, and most of what changed lands on the site rather than the certification body.
StandardsAIB 2027: there is no transition, and you do not pick the date
Every other scheme this year gave you a transition period. AIB gives you a date. From 1 January 2027 every site is inspected against the new edition, and with unannounced inspections you do not get to choose when that happens.
RegulationEUDR: what actually has to be working by 30 December
Three months out, the question is not what the law says but what has to be working. Most food manufacturers are downstream, which changes the job entirely without removing it.
Food fraudOlive oil fraud: it is real olive oil, and that is the problem
Honey fraud adds something that shouldn't be there. Olive oil fraud usually doesn't. It is real olive oil, just not the grade you bought, and that defeats a certificate of analysis in a completely different way.
StandardsRSPO Supply Chain Certification: what we know before endorsement
Endorsement is expected next month and the draft is still behind a login. What is actually known about the revised chain of custody standard, what is inference, and why there is nothing to do yet.
StandardsFSSC 22000 v7: the biggest change is in a document you have to buy
The scheme document is free. The standards it now depends on are not, and one of them is where your food defence and food fraud requirements have quietly moved to.
StandardsBRCGS position statements 2026: one clause if you make food, eight if you store it
The BRCGS position statements effective 10 August 2026, clause by clause, for Food Safety Issue 9, Storage and Distribution, Agents and Brokers, and Packaging Materials.
StandardsThe Fairtrade requirements that land on procurement, not the technical desk
Chapter 5 of the Fairtrade Trader Standard is about money, not traceability. Contracts, price floors, payment clocks, pre-finance and the unfair trading practices that can now be sanctioned.
StandardsFairtrade Trader Standard v3: what it costs you, and where it pays back
The Fairtrade Trader Standard v3 has been in force since July. Here is what it actually costs to implement, which dates bite when, and where the work pays for itself.
PackagingThe PFAS Plan: the food manufacturing bits
The PFAS Plan runs to around 50 actions across every industry. Six of them touch a food manufacturing site, one has a date attached, and one changes what counts as PFAS in the first place.
Food fraudVanilla fraud: what your spec doesn't prove
Synthetic and biosynthetic vanillin can be blended until the isotope result sits inside the natural window. What your certificate proves, what it doesn't, and what belongs in your vulnerability assessment.
Food fraudHoney fraud: what your CoA doesn't prove
Adulteration syrups are engineered to pass the C4 test. What that means for your certificate of analysis, and what belongs in your vulnerability assessment instead.
StandardsFairtrade Trader Standard v3: the requirements are all Core now
Version 3 applies from 1 July 2026. All requirements are now Core, two transition schedules run in parallel, and the Hazardous Materials List requirement lands on your pest control programme.
StandardsBRCGS Food Issue 10: what we actually know (and what's guesswork)
What is actually confirmed about BRCGS Food Issue 10, what is informed guesswork, and what to do now. Updated as the standard develops.
RegulationEUDR vs the UK's deforestation rules: two regimes, one confused industry
EUDR and the UK's forest risk commodity rules measure different things. What each demands, what certification does and doesn't buy you, and what to do on Monday.
PackagingRAM 2027: the assessment you already did doesn't count
RAM 2027 tightens the automatic-red criteria to include substances of concern. A perfectly recyclable pack can now rate red on chemistry alone, and red carries a fee multiplier.
Only when there's something real to say. Nothing sent for the sake of sending it.